Marvel's AVENGERS 2 to Shoot in UK

Screen Daily is exclusively reporting that Marvel's sequel to The Avengers will begin shooting in early 2014 at Pinewood-Shepperton studios in the UK. This will continue an on-going relationship between the superhero creators and the Twickenham-based studios, where Thor: The Dark World recently wrapped and Guardians of the Galaxy will shoot this summer.

This comes as a surprise - albeit a welcome one for the British film industry - as word off the China-based set of Iron Man 3 has been extremely positive and the smart money would have been on Marvel strengthening that relationship, while looking perhaps even to lock down co-production status for the film. Perhaps the last-minute change to that film's status in China does indeed hint at a souring of that particular relationship and the subsequent move.

The Avengers pulled in more than US$1.5 billion worldwide, easily making it the biggest film of last year, and third most successful of all time behind James Cameron's one-two punch of Avatar and Titanic. Writer-director Joss Whedon returns for the sequel, as do cast members Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlet Johannsson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson. The Avengers 2 is slated for a Summer 2015 release worldwide.